Publisher Description

This collection of essays commemorates the Parnells of Avondale and simultaneously uses the theme of commemoration to provide an insight into the shifting relationship between history and memory in the case of Charles Stewart Parnell and his family. The essays by two leading Irish historians have an elegiac tone. The authors show an elegant and sympathetic appreciation of Parnell's career and of how he has been viewed in Irish history since his death in 1891. Parnell's nationalism is explored and his political speeches, the significance of his sojourn in Kilmainham, his American connections, his funeral and the rise and decline of 'Ivy day' and other commemorations after his death. The authors also look at the careers of the Parnell women: his mother Delia and his sisters Anna and Fanny who were both political activists and involved in the Ladies' Land League; and his relationship with Katharine O'Shea, later his wife. There is also an essay on his brother and biographer, John Howard Parnell. The essays throw new light on the Parnell family and their place in Irish history.They will be valuable reading for students of nineteenth-century Ireland, the Parnell family and the debate on 'commemoration history'.

Author Biography

DONAL MCCARTNEY is Professor Emeritus of Modern Irish History at University College Dublin and President of the Parnell Society. His publications include The Dawning of Democracy: Ireland 1800-1870 (1987); Parnell: the Politics of Power (1991), W.E.H. Lecky: Historian and Politician 1838-1903 (1994) and UCD - A National Idea (1999). PAURIC TRAVERS is President of St Patrick's College, Drumcondra and academic director of the Parnell Summer School. His publications include Settlements and Divisions: Ireland 1870-1922 (1988) and Eamon de Valera (1994).

Table of Contents

Introduction: Commemoration History; Parnell: Nationalism and Romance, Donal McCartney; 'The Blackbird of Avondale': Parnell at Kilmainham, Pauric Travers; Parnell and the American Connection, Donal McCartney; Reading Between the Lines: The Political Speeches of Charles Stewart Parnell, Pauric Travers; Parnell's Women, Donal McCartney; 'Under the Great Comedian's Tomb': The Funeral of Charles Stewart Parnell, Pauric Travers; At the Graveside: Charles Stewart Parnell, Katharine Parnell, Fanny Parnell, Anna Parnell, Donal McCartney; In the footsteps of John Howard Parnell, Donal McCartney; 'No turning Back': Anna Parnell, Identity, Memory and Gender, Pauric Travers. 'The Thurible as a Weapon of War': Ivy Day at Glasnevin 1891-1991, Pauric Travers; From Politics to History: Parnell Since 1891, Donal McCartney; Notes; Bibliographical Note; Index.

Review

"What does come through strongly in these talks ... is the extent to which these family members ... were dynamic were dynamic Irish people in their own right and worthy of the commemoration here afforded them ... The Ivy Leaf [is] a potential resource for anyone keen to explore further the full dimensions of the Parnell legacy, past and present." Irish Times August 2006 "Two well known historians commemorate one of Ireland's most significant families ... they bring together memories, analysis and the legacy of not just Charles Stewart Parnell and his sisters Anna and Fanny, who were prominent in the Ladies Land League, but also of their mother, Delia, and John Howard Parnell, who was always overshadowed by his brother even after his death." Books Ireland Sept 2006 "The Ivy Leaf is both sympathetic and elegiac toward its subject ... yet the essays are also deeply rooted in scholarship ... we are in the company of two men deeply invested in their subject, both with a great deal of intelligent personal observation to share." Journal of British Studies 2007

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